Feeding mechanism



March 31. 1925.

C. H. MACDONALD FEEDING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Feb. 20 1919 M M m M 5 m March 31. 1925.

c. H. MACDONALD FEEDING m'zcmusm Original Filed Feb. 20, 1919 2 Shoots-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 31,1925.

1,531,804 UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

owns a. mcnommn, or mourcnhrn, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 'rorvnns-nnn COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE FEEDING MECHANISM Original application filed February 20, 1919, Serial 1%. 278,289. Divided and this application filed August 12, 1922. Serial No. 581,854.

To all whom it mag concern} Be it known'that I, CHARLES H. MAC- DONALD, a subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented an 1111 rovement in Feeding Mechanism, of whic the following is a specification. I Y

The present invention relates to an improvement in packaging machines and more particularly to fee ing apparatus in such machines whereby the number or quantity of articles or units supplied to the segregating mechanism will correspond somewhat to the number of articles actually fed out of the segregating mechanism thus in a measure preventing choking or jamming in operation. This application is adivisional of my copendin application Serial No. 278,289 filed Fe ruary 20, 1919 for packaging machines.

One embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the drawings accompanying the present specification, and in which Figure 1 is a frontelevation showing the feeding device attached to a machine for packaging pharmaceutical tablets or other similar articles,

Figure 2, a detail view illustrating a picker or meansfor removing the article to be packaged from an article guiding device to a moving strip of packaging material,

Figure 3, another view of the picker and associated parts shown in Figure 2,

Figure 4, a view in central vertical section of a form of hopper for feeding articles to an article selecting and guiding device at a predetermined and adjustable rate.

Figure 5, a fragmentary view illustrating another portion of the hopper shown in Figure 4 in its relation to a receiving portion of an article guiding and distributing member or container; and Figure 6, a detail ofthe feed screw retainer.

ReferringtwFigure 1 of the drawings, my improved feeding mechanism is shown attached to and forming a part of a packaging machine of the type illustrated and described in my copending application aforesaid. This machine is also provided with means for packaging individual articles in a tubular container, crimping portions of the container between a resident of Montclair, in the the article retaining discharge opening compartments and then severing the tubular container across the crimpe portions. Obviously, the feeding mechanism may be applied to other kindsof packaging machines and to other purposes than those specifically indicated.

The feeding mechanism of the present invention includes a hopper 16, an article distributing device 17, article guiding means, and means whereby segregated individual articles may be successively dislod ed or grouped according to a prearrange plan. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the articles, such as pills or candies and the like are deposited on amoving strip of packaging material.

The hopper above referred to is of special construction'and is intended to contains. relatively large quantity of articles to be packaged, sai hopper being provided with means for gradually and steadily. discharging the contents at a prearranged rate. The mechanism more particularly devoted to carryin a gear 40 forming part of the collar 41 having transverse slots. 42 adapted to receive out this function is shown more clearly in Figures 4 and 6 in which is shown groove of a screw or rod 44 enclosed in a Y tube or casing 45, said screw being retained against rotation by means of a detent not shown,

the hopper and secured to an operable by means of a knob 57, Figure 1, and adapted to engage a longitudinally disposed slot 46 terminating short of the upper end of the screw or rod and forming a shoulder cooperating with said detent to limit the downward movement of the screw. The hopper is provided 'with a falsebottom 47 having a recessed portion 48 adapted to receive a correspondingly shaped reduced portion 49 of the screw 44, thus securely supporting the false bottom and at the same time permitting withdrawal of the screw when so deortion 81 of 85- extending inwardly through the wall 0f the relatively constricted sired. When the worm gear 40 is actuated by means of a worm 39 mounted on a shaft 37 bers 43 will bear: against the underside of the thread of said screw and push the same upwardly, thus forcing the contents of the it is contemplated that the slidable memhopper steadily toward the top and into the thereof. Before reloadby varying the pitch of the screw 44 which is more conveniently accomplished by pro- 'to the inner portion of the collar 41 viding a number of interchangeable screws of different pitch. Accordingly, the tube 45 has a removable cap 149 threaded or otherwise removably secured to the tube. The disc fixed to the upper end of the tube is provided with curved slots 51, Figure 6, adapted to receive and guide lugs 52 projecting from the sliding members or fingers 43. A collar 53 detachably secured provides a flange adapted tosupp'ort the disc 50 and thereby the tube 45. The collar 41 is in turn supported upon a flange 54 forming a part of the framework, of the machine by means of a flange disc 55 fixed to a plate 56 which may be secured to and support the collar 41 by means of screws or other suitable means connecting said parts. When the screw 33 has reached the upper limit of itscourse, the projection or detent above mentioned in connection with slot 46 may be withdrawn therefrom by manipulating a suitable knob 57, Figure 1. By turning the casing or tube 45, the sides of the slots in disc 50 bear against the projections 52 of the fingers 43 and move the ends of said fingers outwardly ment with the thread of the screw which. is then free to return to its original position by force of gravity, or to be removed entirely from the casing if desired, Or-

dinarily, when the intention is simply to have the screw return to its original or lowermost position, it\will not be desirable to withdraw the projection or detent from engagement with slot 46, inasmuch as said detent, cooperating with the shoulder 80 properly positions the screw for effective"- return of the fingers 43 into operative engagement with the screw thread.

As shown in Figure 5, the hopper 16 discharges into the distributing receiver 17 which maybe provided with a relatively inclined article supporting wall 58 and a substantially vertical wall 59. The lowermost portion of wall 58 is deformed to provide a substantially vertical portion 60, which, with the opposed vertical wall 59,

forms a selective guideway or slot propor-' tioned and adapted to accommodate a single row of articles to be packaged. As shown in Figure 1, said guideway discharges into a vertically disposed undercut slot 61 and out of engage-- formed in a chute 13 which, permits articles to enter said slot individually in succession, each resting upon the article immediately preceding it. Referring to Figure 3, the lower end of the chute 13 is preferably curved in such a manner as to bring its discharge end adjacent to the operative portion 38 of a depositing member or picker 14. To facilitate the constant and regular feed of articles to the discharge end of the chute, means are provided for agitating or oscillating the member 17 and a portion of the vertical slot or chute 13. As indicated in Figure 3, the vertical portion of chute 13 is supported in an expansible collar 62 mounted on a shaft 63. A bell crank lever 64 is fixed to said shaft and pivotally connected to a spur 65, Figure 1, which is operaed by a shaft 66, said shaft having a spiral gear 67 arranged to mesh with a spiral gear 68 mounted on a main driving shaft 26. An eccentric cam 69 fixed to said shaft and rotatable therewith engages and actuates a cam housing 70 to which. the spur 65 is attached, thus giving to said spur an endwise oscillatory motion which is transmitted through the bell crank lever 64 to the vertical portion of the chute 13, the lower portion thereof being relatively fixed in position by means of a set screw 72 threaded in a portion of the frame. The curved undercut slot 71 of the lower portion of the chute 13 registers with and forms a continuation of a similar slot 61 of the upper portion of the chute so that articles may pass unimpeded through the whole length of the chute. Where the article supporting bottom of the receiving member 17 is substantially horizontal and normal to the direction of the slot 61, it is contemplated that the articles, if they are of regular and uniform shape, such as medicinal tablets of conventional form, or candies or the like, will readily enter the chute one at a time by reason of the agitation thereof and of the receiver or distributor, the agitation of the latter causing the articles to be moved back and forth across the slot opening.

At the discharge end of curved slot 71, the articlesupporting projection 73 is provided to receive articles emerging from the end of the slot and presents the same in the path of a suitable displacing member, if desired, one form of such member being shown in the drawings as arotatable picker 14 having arms 74, said picker being secured to the shaft- 37 and rotated thereby to displace articles in succession and at uniformly spaced intervals from the platform 75. It is contemplated that the rate of discharge of the articles from said platform will correspond substantially to the rate at which the articles are-supplied to the distributing member from the hopper. In this way,- a steady feed is main-- tained and the articles do not become clogged or jammed in the distributing throat.

I claim as my invention:

In a packaging machine the combination of a hopper for a sup 1y of articles to be packaged, means for epositing said articles in position to be packaged, and means for supplying articles from the hopper to the depositing means including an article supporting bottom in the hop er,

ing means into and out of operative engagement with the screw.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 29th day of 20 July, 1922.

CHARLES H. MACDONALD. 

